The Sun. — London, England, 1808-12-22 00:00:00

La ST I t s DLI HOUSE. • Yesterday a Qum-tee v G !meal' 'Court was held, When the ;Dividend on ethe Capital Stock of the Company, heed the , sth July last to the sth January Frext, was declared to be el per Cent. the dividei n t b a d b ee n declared, and the . - Afier ~,„ sertairtnan had stated the tranquil state in which the last accounts left India; . . Mr. RANDLE JACKSON rose to call the attention of the:Cotart to a subject of national consequence, and which, he said,. had pressed much upon his mind for a considerable time past ;. but respeding which, recent ce.cumslances had.determined him to remain no longer silent ; he meant the extraordinary, and inexplicable to him, ascendancy of the enemy's cruizers in the Indian seas, and the dreadful ravages W hich th e y h a d b een tamely permitted to commit Poe British property, and the' still greater dishonour which they had brought upon the country. He • repiced to have just beard from the Chairman, the account which he bad given of the peace of India, and of the security of our Oriental possessions ; be wish e d he could say as much for the security of the Indian. seas, and the property which was necessa rily aeventured upon them. Who could believe, a sked M. J ac k son, t h at with a maritime force 1 gter tha n h a d b een usua ll y kept in those seas, .e . trade of them had- been kept so completely 11 "Proteeted, that the Calcutta Insurance Comp bies alone had paid losses to the amount of 'ere than two millions of money within the last SBsever, or eight years, and that in the month of ,epir tetriber an d Oetolier only, of the year 1807, t h elosses h ad been upwards of 290,0001. that b'' these, as well as numerous other , captures, had c)'11 effeeled by two French Frigat es , an d pr i n - PallY by the Revenant Privateer, of 16 guns, Y''''en later had scpured those sea s for three months 'together, and in fact blockaded during that titne the Bay o f B en g a l , although a great rnatitime force, with an Adthiral's Flag, and se veral peudants flying, were then lying within three hundred mik;s of this scene of depreda linte He ' understood it to be stated in a Memo- Tisl '(from which he gathered these facts) from t he Calcutta Merchants to the Board of Admiralty, that although the destination of these Frigates, Aland of this Privateer WaS k !WWII to the station at adras, in September, yq at the date of the , - Neenorial, namely, in the December followi ng , b lo t a 'vesS e l b a d b een sent for the proteetion of the Bay, till at length the Imperial Government of India had been compelled to do, what America 'lelad pretended to do on account of the vonfts eterated maritim e strength of the workl, namely, 0 lay an eintetrgo on its shipping, in order to keep them from the (lievourin,,,, jales of this terrible •I'riv iteer of ifi guns, which had, it was said, The no less extraordinary good luck to preserve every One of its prizes ft:of-nee-capture, though it had to _Send 'them through a know n tract of 3000 miles to the Isles of Mauritius and Bourbon. Mr. JACKSON added, that the Madras Govern- Ment, with that feeling which becam e it, for our fellow subjects of India, labourieg 'under the horrors of famine, has advertised great encoeragement to ships bringing corn for their relief ; in tobsequence 4Of which, the shipping interest bad directed tention to this objei:t. when - shockin as it bhoul its at- d Seem, if the Memorial spOkethith;nd g one ship that the Memorialists knew of bad been sent 'not to pro tee} these vessels, the cbMequente of \Vbiell ivas, that a 'considerabl e part of 'the provisio ns t h us in tended to save our subjects from death, had been raptured by theenemy. Mr. Jackson observed, that a marine could only be created through the niediutn 'of conitherce, or through that of ships df war; our great enemy not haying the former means in his 1: ) ower, was knower, though silently, and, perheps slowly, but surely, to be creating a body of most ad- Venturous, hardy and skilful sailors, through the lat ter *medium, the whole of which he would call to liiS service whenever the at irs of the Continent s heuldildiTlit of his ditettmg his energies to his ma rine. If his conduct in this respect did lint declare his meaning-, the encet‘rae '3 itig proclamation's h e bad I it seed to M erc h ants so to direct their capital, and to Officers and Seatrien s'd to direct their valour; would su thcientlY establish it. Mr. Jaeksoti said; be would 11 9 t suppose it possible, but that the Directors had F ade the strongesi representations in the proper quarter, if not, he adjured them to do so withoi.it a 4101nent further loss of time; he must Say, that if the y bad found the forms of Office in their way at the Admiralty, they Ought to ,have applied to' the Alinistere evho, according tn the pce of o6r Constittition, was answerable for every racti devartmem ; , i and failing there, they ought to have addressed them , . selves to the House of Commons, and laid their case before the country, the Direaors being as much 'bou n d to the protection of every legal settler in In . dia, as of their own covenanted servants. Mr. Jack- I sou said, he did not pretend, or could say where the fault lay ; if with the Commander, the Board of A dmiralty that wanted nerve enough to recall such a man ought to be dismissed by the Minister, and changed for men of more comprehensive faculties and mote vigorous exertions. If the Minister wanted i - courag e to do this, ha was not the Minister for such ,4 country in such times. Mr. Jackson, after re !narking on the aillining and disgraceful accounts of a similar ascendancy in the West Indies, and of the repeatedly reviduallieg and reinforcing of Mitrti hique and Guadeloupe, the importanc e of the cap ture o f which islands had ever been admitted to be of the utmost consequence, concluded with expres slhg his hopes, that 'the Directors would feel this subea as it ought to be felt, and ad upon that . feeling. The Cli AIRMAN, (Mr. P erry ) sa id , that it had not escaped their attention, that the depredations had been most scandalous, arising, as th ere hended, from negleCt somewhere; that t he C app um , tnaeder had been recalled some months past, and that he trusted precautions would be taken to pre- ``'tit the recurrence of the evil so justly complain ed of, teee rgr , GRANT, th e D eputy Chairman, went upon satne ground, but more at lerge ; h e o b serve d , Ithat I toe Diredors had not, till recently, any pro )cr. tlocuments on whi c h to proceed in making their representations ; he was severe upon the Me roeralists, for not having applied to them in the first lestance, lather than to Government.- He observ . d upon i the condu6l of different Nayal Corumanders • . * l / 4 110 had been 'sent mit, And how little influence' the' GOyernments of India tad upon their conduct. 7 I%lajor WALTER SCOCT,WARING supported the ground which Mr. Jackson had - taken, and stated some military complaints, which he feared the Di reaors would be deaf to till too late. Mr. Rocx alluded to the report out of doors, that the renewal of the Company's Charter was to. be a subjea of discussion during the next Session 4.usl wished to know if it were true, that Gentlemen Might prepare themselves accordingly ? The CHAIRMAN and DEPUTY CHAIRMAN thought the question very premature, and rather declined an swering it, assuring the Proprietors, that whenever such a negotiation should take place ; they would give them timely information of the probable . terms.' Mr.•JACKSON said, the questi was an exeterne ly plain one, and such as he ught ought to be answered—it was " Whether or ho it was the un derstanding of the Diredors that the renewal of the Company's Charter was to be discussed next Ses sion ?" He said it was a subject of inconceivable importance to the country at large, as well as tolhe Proprietors, an d w h enever t h ey should meet - upon the occasion, he hoped it would not be in the nar row spirit of mere Proprietors of India Stock, but as Citizens of the Empire' at large, atientive , „ as.tttq ought to be, to their own due protection, but auxi bus to make our Indian territories of the greatest possible use to the Parent State. He said, he thought the question alluded to ought to be answered for the reason assigned for asking it, namely, that the country might be prepared, as it, was known that men of eminent talents had directed their thoughts to the subject, as appeared by their . publi - - cations ; such persons, he thought, ought even to to be invited to communicate their ideas. Our In dian Empire was not, he hoped, the last, but cer tainly the greatest stake in the hands of the country, and-, as Ministers should use it, would depend the prosperity of Great Britain or the contrary.. Mr. Jackson said, it would be too late to come and in fbrm them of outlines previously agreed to, calling upon them, perhaps, to agree to some Report, wrapped up in technicality, and enveloped in figures. Mr. Jackson said, such had lately been the case with a great C om p any , reapeCting. which the Minister o f the day had thought p ro p er to break in upon the terms for a n e w Charter, solemnly settled by one of his Predecessors, and forgeffUl of the maxim; which he was knoWn 'eminently to pradice in private life, had compelled a new bargain, which ; according 'lb his, Mr. Jackson's conception, of it were as unjust ever poWer insisted on, or imbecility had yielded to ; lre retnemhered on the occasion to which he al luded, the understanding conveyed to the Proprie tors, ~ amidst a mass of figures, was, that the Diree to'rs had Merely conceded rheir superfluities ; though it was soon after found, when the conditionk came. to be understood, that much of their stbstariee had been taken from them. Mr. GRANT repeated, that nothing bad 'occurred. by which Ite was autltoiiscd to say, that the discus sion alluded to ‘voUld take place the ensuing Ses sions. Mr. foci:, referring to the late girt of one thou sand pounds to the Spanish Patriots, protested aginst the illegality of the Dire . otars giviets away e funds of the Company, howe ver mer i tor i ous t h e object, withdut the consent oltheir CotistituentS. In this Prbtest a Mr. Rock's,, Mr. Jackson and other Proprietors declared ThernseiVes to agree. The Coat Then adjourned. The following is a List of the in'ient koyal Fafnir) , of Spain charles IV. born NOvettiber 12, 18—'—K in gof Spain and of th e Indies; bee. 14, M 74t —married, Sept. 4, 1765, to Louisa Maria Theresa Of Parma, Queen 'of Spain and 'of the Indies, borh Dtt'elliber 9,1751.- ISS I IJE OF TH:S "ST ARRIAGE. Ferdinand Maria Francis de 'Panle, Vic. Prince of Astnrias; born Oft 14, 1 7 84- - - married, Wt. 1801', 'to Alaria Antoinette Theresa, daughter of Ferdinand IV. King Of the Two Sicilies, born Dec. On 1784, died in 1`806: Charles Maria Isidore, Infant of Spain, born March 29, 178 H. Frabcis de Paula Anthony Maria, Infatit of Spain, born March.JO; 1794. Charlotte Joachima, Infanta of Spain, born April 25, 1 775—married January 9, 1790, to the Prince Regent of Portugal: Maria LouiSa '.loephina, born July 6, 1782- - mat. Aug. s, 1795, to Louis, Hereditary Prince of Parma, afterwards created Kind of Etruria, and Who died in 1803. Maria Isabella, Infanta Of Spain, born July 5, ;789. IntoTittns bF Tlth KING; Ferdinand 1V: King of the Two Sicilies. Antonio Pascal Francis John Nepotnneeno Anii;• eldo Raymond Sylvester, born Dec.3l, 17.5.5-z-inar ried his niece, the Infanta Maria Amelia, who died July 27, t 798. Sun of ►he Infant Gabriel and Maria Anna et Q . ria, daughter 'Ot the Queen of Portugal-.—Peter Charles; infant, born June 17, 1786. THE ARTS.—Mr. GEORGE DANCE, archi te&ural learning, skill, and taste, are justly held in high estimation, has been amusing himself for the last fifteen years in sketching portraits, in chalk, of many distinguished charaalers of - the present period, comprehending eminent lights of the Church, Mem bers of the liberal professions, and indeed of most who have raised themselves into public notice by knowledge, talents, and genius, in all departments of literature, science, and the arts. The whole of the Royal Academy, of which the ingenious Artist is a Member, of course, make a distinguished figure in this gallery of our contemporaries. The series of heads, in which female genius is not forgotten, has long affurded high gratification to the amateurs in private, not only for the fidelity and spirit by which they are charaderized, but because they exhibit a wonderful variety in the featu res an d expression of the human countenance. We have now reason to. believe that the Artist will . submit 'them all to the band of the Engraver, and gratify the, public , with what has been a frequent eource of pleasure to the circle of his-private friend s: M r. DANIELL, We 1111, derstand, is the artist to whom the task of engraving these conternporary Portraits is assigned, a n d it cer -tainly could n o t be committed to a hand more likely to do justice to the merit of the .olignial'sketehes. S?~ ILhr ACCOUNT ()Fyn BATTLE OF ESPINOSA, BY A BRITISH OFFICER. WITH GENERAL BLAICE i ii ARMY. , On the Bth of November, the army retreated :from Vahnaseda to Nava and its vicinity., the divi sion of Asturias covering the retreat: On the 9th, the retreat was continued to Espinosa. The division of commanded by General Count Romana, which had been previously stationed at El Barron; aged as rear guard, and covering the retreat. On the morning of the t th, General Blake received information that his guard was attacked at about a league from Espinosa. He, therefore, immedi ately formed .his arMy (which had arrived on the night of the 9th) in flout of Esp;nosa, in the fol lowing order':— The second division occupied a hill to the right, in front of the town of Espinosa, the thial division and reserve we're placed on a plain in the centre. . . The vanguard,, with six pieces of artillery (four pounders) was stationed on a small hill close in the rear of the centre division.--The division of Fionia, when attacked, took post on a small hill covered .with wood, about a quarter of a league in front of our centre. The enemy charged this division with great impetuosity, and for a moment created some disorder, and broke the ranks, the right giving way; but being reinforced by two battalions of marines, and being sustained by thelue of two 4-pounders, the division of Fionia, in conjurAion with the two battalions of marines, charged the enemy in their turn,. With great spirit and vigodr. The :lollop be came -general along.the entire,li ne , w i t h t h e excep tion of our left. The result was, that the enemy was driven back, and obliged to retire to his original position, about half a league di.. , :tant. The enemy ad- V . iinced again, however, and took post in a wood, and along a ridge 0.4: hills, in front of our.right and centre. The division o Fionia had by this time taken post to the right of the third division, in conjuth.:tion with which it closed the enemy, and kept up a well &reeled and incessant lire, insomuch that the enemy *ere obliged to retire behind the ridge of hills, still keeping Up a partial 'fire from *file wo&l to their left. . . . In this. state of tl;e a6.lion ,night came on ; the enemy, according to all,appearance, were defeated, or at least had the worst of theaaion of this day. At the cl6Se of th e d a y, General Blake gave orders for the right. and centre divisions to close with the enemy, and for the 3d division to move forward and commence the attack with thebayonet. It was, howevee, ,reported, . that there were two deep trenches between the 3d division and the enemy; which prevented - this order from being carried into effect. . , , . The loss of the Spanish army in this Aay's action was 'very considerable, and a very great proportion of Officers were killed and wounded. Among the latter were Brigadier General the Count de St. 116- mltn, and Brigadier Gen. neqUelmi.* On the morning of the t Ith - &ovethber, at (Iv % break, the enemy, who by ,this time appeared to have very considerable reinforcements in his rear, advanced a column behind th e woo d an d ,r idg e o f hills opposite to our `right, and at the sane time Pushed forward tivO very strong columns, headed by two sYnall column's of a battalion each, against the height Occupied by our left, which consktel of the first division, and that of AsttVrias. Gen. Blake lost no time in sending a reinforcement of a battalion of grenadiers to the left division. He at the same time dispatched two other battalions to dank the right pOtion of our left, with 'a view'of falling upon the left flank of 'lite enemy's line, as be advanced to at tack Our left diviSion. The enemy, according to his uniform practice, Commenced his attack by sending forward a very strong corps of sharp-shooters,. who were advanced a very considerable distance in front of his column, which iiiarched along the side of the height occu pied by our left, w ith the, evident intention of out flanking us. The enemy's voltigenrs, for Want of troops of a similar description to oppose to the m , d rew t h e fire of the eniire line of the Asturians, and the fir*t di vision. The enemy's voltigeurs were twice repulsed with considerable loss, but being reinforced, they returned a third time to the attack. At the same time the enemy's column formed line, and advanced against the Spanish line, which, after receiving two distharges, and having lost the three Generals who !commanded it, a momentary want of command en sued, and ,the line gave way. The ene m y, at, thi s time, commenced an attack upon oar right and cen tre, but without being able to make any impression. However, as the columns which had defeated our left were in full march to occupy some heights in the rear of the town of Espinosa, which commanded the road by which we would have to retreat in any other event than that of a success, which was now hopeless, General Blake deemed it advisable to order a general retreat, which accordingly took place, and was executed with-as much order as existing circum- . stances would admit. • The vanguard and Centre division having to re treat by d narrow bridge and defile, and the roads being in very bad .order, in consequence of the heavy rains, it was very soon evident that any attempt to save the artillery must very much embarrass the re treating divisions, and retard their progress, if not endanger their safety altogether. General Blake deemed it theretbre the most advisable plan to keep up a constant tire from the guns against the advanc ing enemy, to the last pos.itde moment, and then to render them useless and abandon them. He issued orders accordingly, which were carried into etre& in a manner highly honourable to those charged with the execution of them. They were directed with much skill by Colonel Paredes, and !heir fire galled the enemy very much in their advance. It was not till the enemy were quite close that the firing ceased. Colonel Paredes then caused the guns to be spiked, and retiring with his °dicers and men, waded a river in his rear, and escaped to the ar m y. The guns which fell int o the enemy's hands were six 4-pound ers. The army continued its retreat to Reynosa, the enemy not attempting any immediate pursuit. General Requelini died subsequently on board a British Ship which was conveying him r!oin St. A ndzro to Cortmtia, atter it became itecess:iry to ab:indosi the fort4er place can the approach ..of th 9 turce. e tl se. Our loss in killed, ani wounded, ji g ` the aCtions- of the LW' and 1 Itli was considerable. , • .TPe division of Asturias suffered mast pWiCularly in - officers, having had . General Quiros killed, and General Acevedo, with many other Orr - kers A rank, wounded. The euelny.rlso suffered very consider ably, particularly from the 'fire of the, Spaoilli artil lery, which was well served, and dirt:tied with treat judgment, OviEno, Nov. ;0.44 arrived here on the. ,'..;'.8111, and t - rom all that I have been able to .earn by coo tinued investigation sinee'my arrival, the position of the•enemy is as follows :—Lis right is at Danes, where at present there ate. not more than 80 or 00 men. With the reznaindt.r of his force in ,t this quarter he, occupies 'Amiga!, St. Vincente de la Barquera, I3irca de Unquera, Permanes,Lisbana, Poles, and Columbres.. 1,% en ire force this chain of •posts is estimated% collectively at:12,600 men, or I 4,00 D at ,the most. The Asterians, in number 4000 r commandedby Gen.Bals , rerc.s.and the about 8000 occupy z nd Puerto:!e Pi.:r.h-et tita, two very strong passes, abOut I 4 leagues from bviedo, and are confident of maintainin g these posts.. In the rear of these posts are two other; strong, Arbagal, the road leading to Cr, iedo, - whence it is dist a n t si x le agues , and the height of, Peon, leading to Gijon. There is very little proba . - hility that the enemy will attempt to penetrate far ther into Asturias, if so tar, for, iudcpendent of the obstacles which the very great want of p,rovisinan and probable inclemency of the weather at ti4is sea son of the year, would present to an army marching though the Asturian mountains, the very strong po sitions which the natives can. occupy all along . the river -Nalor, .which is no where fordable, would render any attempt on the part of the enemy to pe netrate through .AStnrias to Galicia extremely diffi cult, if not altogether impraelicable, partiCularly while there remain armies at Astorga and Leon in positions to menace or cut off the retreat of any body of troopS that may enter into Alti.niaS. All possible means arc in train for uniting the scattered remains of the AAutians of Gen. Blake's army, and for restorit , the confidence which the great privations and sufferings already endured • by,' . the soldiers, and the present inability of the Junta to relleve those wants and sufferings have necessarily diminished. From all these .considerations ahoy( - mentioned, there does not appear any reasonahle ground to apprehend an attack on Asturias ;. but as. thew is a plain between Co:urnbres, Chiles, and ilibadetella, in which a large body of troops may anti it.hal not been deemed prudent to obeopy Warn bres under existing circumstances. Skaiting commenced in both the Parka.yesterelar ; the crowd . of juvenile skaiters on the canal way Burlington House, at Chiswick, will be extremely gay this season, by the presence of the Marquis of HARTINGTON and a party of his young friends. The Duke of DEyotssuip, with his usual philanthropy, nieans,to display uluth old English hospitality on the Occasion. On Friday. morning the folloNing shocking cir ctltemstance occurred in Sandgate, in Newcastle. • A young woman, i.ileeping, with an infant awoke early in the morning, and missed the Child ant of the 1,0. On earching, the room, she fOuird that it had fallen from the bed into a tub of Viater„ which had been left near it, and. was drowned. The shrieks of the young woman, on discovering this Melan choly event; alarmed the neighbours, :who,. instead of endeavot s iririg to quiet her perturbed mind, began to charge her with carelessness, &c. This, added to the anticipated refleaions of the mother (who was then at Shields), operated so powerfully on the young woman's feelings, that she rushed out, of the house, and, in a fit of frenzy, precipitated herself into the river, where she was drowned before any assistance could be afforded..--The young . w oman was the child's aunt, and sister to t h e husband. A terrible fire broke out betwixt one and two o'clock on Thursday morning, in a kitchen under the shop and parlour of Mr. George Carr, tallow chandler, Hexam, which threatened destruction to a vast pile of buildings, and it was not known to the family above until they were almost suffo cated. Mrs. Carr, Miss Robson, and three of the children, threw themselves from the window of the room above the parlour, and happily received little injury. . Several fruitless attempts were made to rescue two remaining ones, by breaking in the win dows in an upper story. The doors were unfor tunately open, and the rooms were filled with such an intense smoke, that no person could enter to do any good until the fire, by the united exertions - of a number of persons, was somewhat got under, when the poor little -sufferers were ,relieved from their awful situation by -Mr. James Meston, who handed them from a window of the third story.; they were conveyed to the adjoining house, when medical aid was:soon procured, and they are now, to the great joy of their friends, in a fair way of recovery. Every care was taken by the Gentlemen of the Vicinity in removing the goods- from the shop and warehouse, as _nothing else could be attempted ; and the late volunteers. attended ,to. protect the property. It was occasioned, it is supposed, by a spark falling on some linen upon a clothes horse. . About a week since, as Mr. William Richardson, of Allen, Shields, the agent to the lead-mines, near Bleuckland, in the County of Durham, was return- ing home from collealing•money, on horseback, he was stopped by two footpads, who were supposed to have waylaid him, it being pretty generally known that he was travelling, with a large sum of money ; about two miles north of Hamsterley, on the road to Walsinghem ; one of the robbers seized the bridle of the horse, and the other cut the . traps of the sad , die-hits, which contained,- in cash and notes, y 341. 9s. Gd. with which they made their escape.. A few days since, a Coroner's Inquest was held at the Lord Nelson Publie-house, ,Somers -town, on the body of a child found drowned in a pond near that house, wrapped up with a brick in a piece of green baize. It appeared to have been in the water about three weeks: The Jury returned-a verdict of wilful murder against some persons unknown. SECOND DAY CF DRAWING.--NO. 133, a Prize of Thousand Pounds, was sold in the following Shares, namely, One Quarter, One: Eighth, and 'feu Sixteenths, at . the . Old EstabliShed State Lot terv-OtEces of HORNSBY and C 9.26, Corr:hill; and. St. Margaret's Hill, Borough,